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Laboratory safety is of the utmost importance to anyone who does laboratory work. As a
beginning chemistry student, part of your education in the undergraduate laboratory this
semester is to learn to recognize that chemistry laboratory is, indeed, a very dangerous
place where serious accidents do happen. This is not to discourage you from working in
the laboratory. Instead, you must learn to be a responsible laboratory user who always
works safely in the laboratory to avoid endangering yourself and others around you. You
must constantly exercise your common sense.
A. General Safety and Emergency Handling
There are numerous safety precautions that you must undertake and safety regulations to
remember. Your own diligence and your compliance to the instructions provided inside
this Manual and by your laboratory instructor and demonstrators are required.
First of all, treat all chemicals as potentially hazardous. Most organic compounds are
flammable and should never be heated with a Bunsen burner. Avoid inhaling chemical
vapors, and learn the proper use of a fume hood for this purpose. Take special care when
handling strong acids, bases, and bromine. Chemicals needed for your experiment are
normally stored under designated fume hoods. Take only small amounts and return to
obtain more when necessary.
If chemicals spill onto your skin (most likely your hands), wash the infected area under
running water continuously for at least 15 minutes. Use the eye-wash (at least 15
minutes) if chemicals splash inside your eyes. Chemical spills on the bench-top or floor
must be reported so that the proper course of action can be determined. Indeed, report all
accidents (such as spills, cuts & burns, etc.) to your laboratory instructor or
demonstrators, no matter how minor.
You must also learn the locations and basic usage of the fire extinguishers and fire
blankets inside the laboratory. Know where the exits are in case it becomes necessary to
evacuate the laboratory. In this respect, laboratory stools are not allowed to be placed
in front of the fumehoods. Tripping accidents may result not only during practical
sessions but also these stools pose serious obstructions during an emergency evacuation.
Secondly, keep your workstation and all common areas in the laboratory clean and
tidy at all times. Students knocking off with their arms glassware placed dangerously
close to the edge of the bench-top are common. Tripping from unseen objects on the floor
(such as stools placed randomly in a narrow aisle) is another common accident. Also, the
laboratory floor must be kept dry to prevent people from slipping. Water spills should be
mopped up immediately. In case you break some glassware, never pick up broken glass
pieces with your bare hands. Instead, ask your laboratory instructor or demonstrators for
proper instructions.
At the end of an experiment, all apparatus must be cleaned properly and returned to
where you obtain them. Wash your hands thoroughly before leaving the laboratory.
Most serious cuts result when glassware shatters while it was being forced into
rubber tubing, plastic tubing, or stoppers. Pushing stoppers down the necks of flasks is
also a dangerous act. Cuts can be avoided by taking the following precautions:
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When inserting glassware into rubber tubing, rubber stoppers, or corks, make sure
that the hole in the stopper or cork is of the correct size. Always lubricate the
glass with a drop of water or glycerol.
When inserting glassware into plastic tubing, always soften the end of the plastic
tubing by dipping it into hot water for a few seconds.
Always use two hands for these operations and keep your hands practically
touching.
Always rotate the glassware or the stopper while pushing gently. In other words,
screw the glassware through the stopper, or into the tube, and screw stoppers into
flasks.
SAFETY GLASSES
DRESS PROPERLY
CONTACT LENSES
FOOD
TECHNIQUE 1. Extraction
Extraction is a commonly used separation technique for separating a desired compound
from a mixture or from impurities. A separatory funnel is necessary for a liquid-liquid
extraction, which is outlined in the following steps:
1. Practice opening and closing the Teflon stopcock with an empty separatory funnel
while holding the funnel in the correct position with both hands as shown in the
figure below. Note that it is very important for you to use your index finger to
hold the glass or plastic stopper tightly in place.
2. Now, MAKE SURE THE STOPCOCK IS CLOSED. Place the funnel upright in
an iron ring attached to a ring stand. Remove the stopper and pour into the
separatory funnel (with the aid of a glass funnel) the solution to be extracted. Add
also the extraction solvent.
Note: The total volume of the solution inside should be NO MORE
THAN 2/3 of the volume of the separatory funnel.
3. Replace the stopper. Hold the filled separatory funnel using the correct position
with both hands like before. Carefully invert the funnel a few times and then
slowly open the stopcock to release any built-up pressure. Close the stopcock
afterwards and shake the funnel for several seconds. Vent, and shake again. Vent,
and shake one more time. Vent once again before returning the funnel to the
upright position in the iron ring.
4. Remove the stopper and allow the layers to separate.
5. To capture the bottom layer, open the stopcock gradually and drain it into a clean
container (a conical flask). Close the stopcock as soon as the last trace of the
bottom layer has gone down and out of the funnel. Over-draining is not
uncommon; however, it should be avoided if at all possible.
6. Remove the upper layer by pouring it out from the top of the funnel (into a
beaker). This way it will not become contaminated with traces of the lower layer
found in the stem of the funnel.
Note: Make sure you know which layer is aqueous and which is organic.
Usually, the bottom layer is organic. Ether, for example, is a solvent that is
less dense than the aqueous layer.
7. The organic layer, at the end, should contain only the organic compound.
However, there might still be traces of the aqueous solvent, or water, inside.
Therefore, you should add a drying agent (anhydrous magnesium sulfate MgSO4)
to the conical flask containing the organic layer to absorb any residual water.
Allow about 10 minutes for drying. The hydrated (wet) MgSO4 can then be
separated by simple filtration.
TECHNIQUE 2. Folding a fluted filter paper